Diageo North America said it plans to roll out a first-of-its-kind immersive virtual reality (VR) technology that will allow consumers of legal drinking age to experience the many pitfalls associated with irresponsible drinking.
The program is being spearheaded by Diageo’s Digital and Technology Partnerships teams, who have been engaging potential partners in helping support and build out the experience. Joining Diageo in the effort will be digital agency, VaynerMedia, who will help the company with the creative vision, production, development and distribution of this immersive experience.
“Despite the fact that drunk driving fatalities are at an all-time low, this issue remains of critical importance to Diageo and the industry as a whole. We believe that virtual reality technology provides a powerful new opportunity to emphasize the importance of celebrating responsibly,” said James Thompson, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer.
“Enabling people to experience what it’s like to be the passenger in a car being driven by a drunk driver may resonate more with participants than disturbing statistics and crash photos. While we are still in the developmental phase of this project, we are eager to experiment with the technology to see how it can help advance our responsible drinking mission,” he said.
Consumer interest in VR continues to grow rapidly, with the number of active VR users forecasted to reach 171 million by 2018. Currently, 73% of millennials have expressed excitement to experience VR, which is why Diageo is making a long-term commitment to the technology and over time will develop additional user experiences that will demonstrate the effects of alcohol abuse.
“While more than two-thirds (69%) of driving deaths are not related to drunk driving, many (20.9%) drunk driving fatalities involve hardcore drunk drivers – those with a BAC of 0.15 or higher,” continued Thompson. “Our hope is that this virtual reality experience will help inform responsible decision making for people, but will also enlist their advocacy in the ongoing fight against repeat, hardcore drunk drivers.”
“Every drinking and driving death is preventable, and we believe that even one is too many,” said Thompson. “While it’s encouraging to see that the number of alcohol related fatalities has fallen recently, there is more work to be done and we are committed to playing our role in eradicating harm caused by drunk driving.”